Food origin traceability from a consumer's perspective

Abstract

The awareness of food origin in the consumers' perspective has gradually become more significant not only in reference to consumers from highly developed countries but also from emerging ones, which are already on their way from a developing to developed economy. The purpose of the paper is to answer the research question by verifying four hypotheses formulated in the research process. The research question is: "Do the variables which characterize consumers of food products in Poland, including gender, age, education and financial status, affect the aspects related to food traceability, such as identification of the producer, importance of food product features when shopping, importance of the information given on food product packaging and influence of the shopping place and frequency on tracing the food origin?" The paper presents the results, analysis, and conclusions from the study in reference to the four assumed hypotheses related to the above-mentioned research question. The study was carried out on a group of 500 consumers of food products in Poland. The study topic selection is justified by the assumed significance of tracing back a food product's origin for a consumer who functions in a globalization-based economy; this was confirmed by the subject literature presented in the paper.